


Everything Won't Happen at Once

by slipthroughknot



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-07
Updated: 2011-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-14 12:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/149106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slipthroughknot/pseuds/slipthroughknot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's life in certain moments, good and bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Won't Happen at Once

_Siri and the young hearts that ran free_

Danny remembered it well, the jitters that came when you asked someone you were interested in to do something with you. His first such question, the one with serious intent and the flush of fresh teenage hormones behind it, involved Siri Danson.

He'd made a few inquiries about Siri through his network of friends in middle school, and bolstered by his mother's reassurance that morning that he had the potential to grow up to be singular exception in his family by exceeding five feet nine inches, he asked her to dance with him. He hated the song that was starting to play -- [_Rush, Rush_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqyIaNWP0T0) by pre-American Idol Paula Abdul, which he can still sing from memory to this day -- but there was limited time and opportunity.

"Hey," he had said.

"Hey Daniel," Siri had responded. "Gonna ask me to dance?" The school gymnasium was dark, but he could make out the blur of her features. She was standing under the faded material of the school banner, the words BLUE BEARS right above her head.

"Yeah," he answered, relieved that his voice didn't crack. He wiped his sweaty hands on his XXL pants as discreetly as he could and held out his right hand. Her smile was beautiful even through the braces.

They went close to the center as Paula crooned about her love rushing to her, as Siri discreetly pushed their bodies closer together. She felt light in his arms, and had there been room, had Danny more guts about the whole teenage thing, he would have spun them around like in the movies with her long tangle of dreadlocks trailing them like a comet's tail. But in the middle of the school gym, that probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

Siri tucked her mouth close to Danny's ear. "It can't be just me who can't stand these things," she said. Her wet breath blew in his ear and Danny realized with swift and sudden embarrassment that he was getting an erection.

He tried to be smooth anyway. "Way I see it, it depends on the company. I like it right now," he said, and inched his hips away from Siri as much as he could.

"Pretty smooth," she whispered. That didn't help Danny's situation any. "By the way," she continued, "we have science class together. I won't be shocked by what's happening in your pants." Her hand slid down to the small of his back and pushed so that their hips aligned.

Danny gulped in air that seemed to be in short supply. Any control he had over the situation had spiralled out of his reach.

"Uhhh," he said, his voice finally succumbing and cracking like kindling in between the vacant air between vowel and consonant. Fucking teenage hormones. If her hand stayed on his back, if her slick and wet breath didn't stop brushing against his ear, if the friction kept up, this would get even more embarrassing than it already was. "Excuse me," he said, and took a step back. He had a few seconds to take in her surprise giving way to a belly laugh before he ran out of the gym, his humiliation doing nothing to his dick. The bright lights of the hallway were a shock after the cool dimness of the school gym.

He'd never been happier to live within walking distance of the school. The run home was quick, his excuses to his parents as he burst in and fled to his room even quicker.

It didn't even take a minute. Running was out was the smart thing to do, he thought, as he scrubbed his boxers with hand soap in the bathroom sink later that night, even if it was the most humiliating thing that had happened in his life so far.

He didn't know what to expect the day after, but he'd known he picked the right girl to like when everyone asked how he felt after that unfortunate bout of food poisoning the night of the dance. Siri smiled at him without any judgment as she passed the preserved pig fetus in a jar during science class.

"Did you have to go to the hospital?" she asked slyly.

"Nah," he replied, giving the pig fetus a cursory look before passing it on. "I got it in time," he added without thinking and flushed with humiliation all over again. Siri hid her face behind her notebook, her shoulders shaking, her breath wheezing. He figured that he'd blown it for real this time, but when her notebook went down, she was still grinning, but with a glimmer in her honey-colored eyes that said not all hope was lost.

 _Rush, Rush_ became their song anyway. She dumped him while the song was playing too, when he was trying to recreate a memory.

  


 _Mac, who slipped in between_

Before Danny found the law, trouble found him. Nothing serious, but it could have been if he was caught, which he was in the end by his parents. But before that, he stole a lot and bragged to his hoodlum friends, friends he'd bust years later and feeling like the biggest hypocrite as he cuffed them, as they swore at him and called him a traitor.

Danny's list of shoplifted items at age 16:

\- Street Fighter II for the Super Nintendo system  
\- one Super Nintendo controller  
\- a blue Gap t-shirt  
\- a black Nike t-shirt with _Just Do It_ in white print  
\- Green Day's _Dookie_ CD  
\- various issues of Playboy (at least 5, and Danny has fond memories of a particular Miss July)  
\- various issues of Penthouse  
\- various issues of Hustler  
\- a bucket of KFC original recipe fried chicken  
\- one issue of Playgirl magazine

("Fuck, I grabbed this faggoty piece of shit by mistake," he yelled, and threw it at Mac like it was a cobra.

"You fucker, I don't want it," Mac yelled back and threw it hard, hitting Danny's face. "You better get rid of that 'cause I'm not risking my parents finding that in the trash."

He left Mac's house and tucked the magazine under his shirt. He walked into his room, made sure he was alone and opened the magazine. The centerfold was really tanned with long, stringy blond hair and he looked like Mac. Danny curled on top of his bed and humped his pillow, unable to bear the thought of actually taking out his cock and stroking to the picture. He stifled the sounds coming out of his mouth as he came to the scenario playing in his head, Mac saying _let's try this_ but without the sneer on his lips.

In his one last, jerkass move as a teenager, he got rid of the magazine by breaking into a freshman's locker and leaving it in there as a surprise. He made it a point not to know what happened after, which took some effort.)

  


 _Rachel, back and forward_

The doctor had just cleared him, but told him to take it easy on physical activities because the effects of accidents usually took a few days to manifest. He put on his coat, and when he walked out, Rachel was the first person he saw in the crowded waiting room.

"No terrible injuries? I haven't incapacitated you or derailed your promising career in public service, have I?" she asked. She had untied her hair as she stood up, the horrible orange chairs in the waiting room somehow complementing the mahogany in her hair.

Danny still couldn't figure out why he found this particular reckless driver as charming as he did. The accent helped; it made her sound classy. She could have been the UK's version of trailer trash, but that accent in Jersey was something else.

"I'm tougher than that," he said, smiling at her. "It'll take more than your crap car to take me down."

"I'll have you know that it's not a crap car," she said. "It's more a piece of shit in my estimation with a shit CD player."

"Was that why you hit me?"

She grimaced. "Unfortunately. Bloody awful song on a mix a friend made me -- had to skip it."

"You gotta stick with the Jersey classics. Springsteen. Bon Jovi."

"Much better, I agree," she nodded. "But then, anyone's better than bloody Coldplay."

"Never heard of them." He had.

"Lucky you." She looked down nervously, which Danny couldn't help but notice. "Are you all right though, with all due seriousness?"

"Yes I am." Their eyes met, parted, met again. "You can make it up to me," Danny said.

She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow in question.

"Take me out for coffee. To relieve the horrible guilt."

"Won't that be considered bribery, officer?"

"Only to someone who follows the strict letter of the law," Danny said, trying to say it in his officer voice but failing spectacularly if her expression was anything to judge it by. He usually had an easier time with his poker face, but he had a feeling Rachel could give him a run for his money.

"And do you, Officer Williams? Follow the strict letter of the law?"

"Depends on the company," he said, feeling a slight sense of déjà vu.

She shrugged, one strap of her top slipping down on her shoulder before she absentmindedly pulled it back up. "Conscientious English girl studying at NYU who was looking for a pub and hits a dashing police officer instead. How would that be categorized as company?"

Danny couldn't maintain the poker face. He shook his head, laughing at himself and at the situation. "I don't know why I think everything you say is the funniest thing ever," Danny said.

She grinned at him and tossed her hair behind her playfully. "I've a feeling my company will be considered exemplary then."

"You're off to a good start," he said. He walked up beside her and offered his elbow for her to hook her arm into. She did it with no hesitation, and they walked out of the hospital.

~ ~ ~ ~

Rachel was the first person he saw when he walked into the court room. Their lawyers were going to do all the talking, but Danny was tempted to shout, to tear the room apart with his bare hands.

Grace, Danny kept thinking. Grace, Grace, Grace. When? How? What do I do? His lawyer was good but no match for the millions backing Rachel.

He looked at her and couldn't think of anything new to say.

Her look back seemed to say that that was the problem in the end.

  


 _McGarrett and a leap to the future_

Danny was in Steve's kitchen eating oatmeal with a square of butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. He was still tired and groggy. His chest still hurt, but considering a bullet went through it two weeks ago, he can concede that today is still a good day.

Steve walked in from the back doors, fresh from his morning swim. "How're you feeling?" Steve's shorts were dipping indecently down, and one of the advantages of being under medication (even if he wasn't yet) was that he could stare at beautiful things and pretend that it's a side effect. He took advantage of this in Steve's house constantly.

"Like road kill," Danny replied, "but with more color and mobility."

Steve towelled himself off, and even in his daze, Danny could tell he was working towards something.

"You know, when I'm swimming," Steve said, "I get into a zone."

"Exercise high," Danny said.

"Yeah, but something else happens." Steve walked towards him, intent. He leaned over the table to look at Danny square in the eye. "After a long swim, I get psychic abilities."

Danny stared. Steve stared back. Danny wondered if maybe he had already taken his pain medication, and this was all a chemically induced fever dream.

"In thirty days when you're all better," Steve said, "I'll invite you for a beer. You'll accept. We go back to my house and stare at the ocean. There'll be meat I'll grill and forget about. I'll say it's New York style, you'll say it's burnt. I'll say that I have something to tell you."

"Steve--" Danny began, but Steve put his hand over Danny's mouth.

"I'll tell you that I got a scare a month ago and that I'm sick of playing safe. I'll tell you that I'm about to make one of the biggest decisions I've ever made in my life, and that you have a big say in that decision. And no matter what your decision is, we'll always be family."

Danny stared at Steve, whose thumb was stroking Danny's lower lip now. "Why thirty days from now?"

"Because I try to be optimistic," Steve said. "And I'm hoping that we'll do other things that night."

"Break into a high-security criminal operation," Danny said, feeling an unstoppable grin coming. "Or maybe cliff diving for secret caches of heroin hidden under coral beds."

Steve wasn't smiling though.

"C'mon, Steve. It's a little funny." Steve nodded and let go of Danny's face.

"I don't have psychic abilities," Danny said, looking at Steve who was looking at anything else except Danny. "I get hunches that I know are right. Cop instincts. And I have a gut feeling that thirty days from now, what you're predicting will actually happen."

It was remarkable to watch Steve's face change, Danny thought. Without knowing it, Steve always had a game face on, which Danny could relate to because being a cop was the same thing, even when he was off duty. To see Steve's face slough off mask after mask, to see that smile break through -- if Danny was a more sentimental man, he might have written a poem. Sang a song. Gotten a burst of adrenaline that made him ignore that he was gravely injured days ago for a cinematic kiss. Instead, he just grabbed Steve's hand, the hand that covered his mouth mere seconds ago, and deposited a small, soft kiss on the palm, a small gesture for the days to come.

  


 _The accidental family_

If Danny tilted his head and squinted, and if he ignored that it was January, he could almost pretend that he was on Jersey Shore, its population replaced by really mellow people who were trying to get skin cancer the natural way.

"Here, Danno," Grace said, handing him a shave ice. He heard Kono and Steve laughing behind him, and Chin was headed down to the beach. He missed his own family keenly, but on days like this when he had Grace, it wasn't bad at all. The dull, lingering ache of not being able to stop by his parents' house when he wanted to talk to them, or no longer having the opportunity to take home huge Tupperware containers full of his father's famous fire alarm chili still stung, but even he wasn't delusional enough not to acknowledge that there were great things that made up for that in unexpected ways. He smiled down at his daughter, dreading the day when she became taller than him because God was cruel that way and loving the way that she still looked at him like he was her hero.

Kono and Steve had their own shave ices and joined them to watch Chin heading down to the beach. One of his friends had an outrigger canoe that they might be able to borrow for free. Danny had said no a thousand times when Steve, Kono and Chin made individual and team efforts to get him on the water, but one request from Grace and he knew he was sunk.

"Is your lifejacket on securely enough?" he asked Grace.

"Yes, Danno."

"Your whistle?" If she had cause to use that today, he'll consider this day an official nightmare from that secret spot in his brain that came up with the worst things to scare him with.

"I won't let her fall into the water," Steve said. "She won't need that today."

He looked at Steve, nodded, and then looked down at Grace. "Your whistle?"

Grace rolled her eyes, but she was at the age where it wasn't disrespectful yet, just fond and slightly annoyed at the same time. "Yes, Danno, I have my whistle."

"Danny, between Steve and me? If she fell into the water with us there, we'd have to hide somewhere in the island in seclusion after," Kono added.

"Live in shame in a cave," Steve said.

"Have a brand that says 'child dropper' on our foreheads. A brand for each letter, not one of those wimpy ones that have the entire word on them," Kono said.

"The Navy will disavow any knowledge of my existence."

"They won't let me surf."

"I get it," Danny said.

"What happens to Chin?" Grace asked in delight.

"He'll have to become a hermit who can only eat fruit that falls from the trees," Kono decided.

"A fate worse than death," Danny said. He licked his shave ice and looked at Chin, who turned around and gave a thumbs up. "I can't believe I agreed to this," Danny said. He felt Steve's hand on his shoulder and Grace hold his right hand.

"It'll be OK, Dad. You'll see," Grace said. Steve laughed, and Danny was tempted to elbow him at the ribs, but he didn't want to spoil the moment. Within a few minutes, with all of them in life jackets to set an example for Grace, they set out into the ocean with the shoreline always in sight for Danny's peace of mind. It was hard to stay grumpy when faced with Grace's complete and utter delight, when there were another three sets of eyes that he trusted watching her with him.

For the first time in a long time, Danny felt some of the constant tension along his shoulders ease. The sea spray felt good on his face and his team's laughter was a good soundtrack. He closed his eyes and tilted his head up to enjoy the feeling, and when he got back to the present, Steve was looking at him, his lips a gentle bow curve up.

"Tourist trap infested with Spam and pineapples," Danny said.

"Murder capital of the US," Steve replied.

"That's only Camden, not the whole state," Grace said.

"That's my girl." Danny beamed proudly at her, and relocating, which was always worth it even if he complained about it all the time, just got that much sweeter.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grace was sleeping peacefully in her room. Danny had checked up on her one last time before going to the kitchen to grab four beers and headed out to their part of the beach and ocean. He sat down in the space beside Steve that Kono and Chin, intentionally or not, always seemed to leave for him. It said something for the quality of the day that Danny would willingly wear shorts and sit on sand for a long period of time watching the sun descend below the horizon, the waves crashing on the shore a soothing rhythm he could track and follow.

"Thank you for today," Danny said. "All of you."

"No problem, brah," Chin said. "I had a great time. Grace is a fantastic kid."

Danny headed off Steve's impending joke about his abilities as a father with a deadly look. Steve just laughed and when Danny focused his attention on his beer, he couldn't help but notice the smirks that Chin and Kono were exchanging in that secret language of theirs.

"She's growing up too fast though," Danny said. "I'm not really looking forward to the time when she won't like stuff like this, you know?"

"You'd have to be a pretty lousy father for Grace not to want to do anything with you," Kono said. "She won't want one from 13 to 18 though, just a heads up."

"Oh God." Danny buried his face in his hands. He felt Steve move closer to him, their legs touching.

"Come on, Danno," Steve said. "If you say that you wanted your parents around when your hormones were raging, I'll throw you into the ocean."

"I'd help," Chin said.

Danny glared at Steve, whose face was really close. "Don't mention my daughter and hormones at the same time if you don't want to get punched out." Steve rolled his eyes.

"Not to worry," Kono said. "Grace will have the coolest aunt around. I'll handle the girl questions you can't handle."

"That is how to reassure me," Danny said, pointing at Kono. "Take lessons, both of you."

"I do not miss that age," Chin said, laughing. He lay down on the sand with his fingers steepled across his chest. "Does anyone?"

Kono shook her head, and Danny had a feeling that there was an ugly duckling story there somewhere.

"What was yours like?" Steve asked, looking at Danny.

"Long story," Danny said, wistful for things past. He felt Steve rub slow, soothing circles on his back and let himself sink into the warm, luxuriant feeling of having a family choose him as a member, even if it was as crazy as this one.

THE END


End file.
